


Nature and Nurture

by nothingeverlost



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 20:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1912644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingeverlost/pseuds/nothingeverlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Emma put her son up for adoption it was to give him his best chance at a family.  When Henry comes looking for her ten years later it might be that he's giving Emma her best chance at family too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nature and Nurture

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt ""Emma had done precisely two good things in her life: she'd given birth to a beautiful, amazing son, and she'd given him up before she could ruin him." Or AU were Belle adopts Henry and we get an adoptive mom/bio mom love story that's healthy.

Emma was pulled over less than a mile after she passed the ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign.

“I’m going to need you to step out of the car, please. Keep your hands where I can see them.” The sheriff, oddly enough, spoke with an Irish accent that would have made more sense in Boston than Maine. Emma glanced over to the passenger seat, where the kid she’d met a couple of hours ago was looking guilty.

“It’s okay, sheriff. She’s bringing me home.” Henry tried to get out of the car but the sheriff shook his head.

“Your mom’s waiting at the station. We can get everything straightened out there, but right now I need you to stay where you are. Ma’am, please step out.”

“It’s Emma,” she said as she opened the door, careful to keep both hands where he could see him. She hated being called ma’am.

“She’s my birth mom. She’s not kidnapping me, though I guess I sort of kidnapped her ‘cause I made her bring me home. She lives in Boston,” Henry added. “Is my mom really mad?”

“I think mad’s about the last thing she’s feeling right now, Henry. She’s scared and worried, mostly. Ariel’s keeping her company at the station, which is just about the only reason she didn’t insist on coming with me to look for you.” The sheriff repeated the rights she’d heard before. To her surprise he didn’t reach for his cuffs. “Can I trust you to come with me until we can get this straightened out? I’d rather not cuff you in front of the kid.”

“I’m not here to cause trouble, just trying to get the kid home.” Emma let herself be led to the back seat of the sheriff’s car. She watched through the window as the sheriff squatted next to the open passenger door of her bug and had a brief conversation with Henry. Her son. Except he hadn’t been her son since the day he was born, and another terrified woman was waiting for him to come home.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.” Henry slid onto the front seat and turned around to kneel, looking at her through the grating. 

“I’ve been in worse places,” Emma said with a shrug. “You should probably put on your seatbelt.”

“So should you, Ms. Swan.” The sheriff slid into the front seat.

“Really, you can call me Emma,” Emma repeated. She did as requested, though, and leaned back in the seat with her seatbelt buckled.

It took less than five minutes to reach the station.

“Henry.” The woman standing out front of the station looked more like Henry than Emma did, at first glance. She had her arms wrapped around herself until the car came to a stop and the passenger door opened. Then she ran, not stopping until she was kneeling on the ground with her arms wrapped around the boy.

“I’m sorry, mom. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to make you scared.” His voice cracked, and Emma would bet her next month’s rent that he was crying.

“Shh, Henry. It’s okay, you’re here now and that’s what matters.” She rocked as she held him, and Emma didn’t have to make any bets on her tears. They were plain to see, falling down her face.

“I’ll just, you know.” Emma nodded towards the building. They didn’t need an audience for the reunion. The sheriff nodded and started to follow before Henry’s mom spoke up.

“Thank you Graham. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight, thinking about...”

“I didn’t do much, Belle. He would have been here in a few minutes without my help. Emma was bringing him back.” The sheriff, Graham apparently, took as step to the side. Emma turned, finding herself being stared at very intently.

“Bringing him back?”

“She didn’t do anything, mom. I went to find her in Boston and she drove me back instead of putting me on the bus again.” Henry used the back of his sleeve to wipe his face.

“I think this conversation would go better, or at least more comfortably, if we all went inside,” Graham suggested. The red haired woman holding open the front door of the station nodded. Belle and Henry didn’t stop touching as they walked together into the building and down the hall.

“Henry?” Belle asked when they were all sitting down. Belle and Henry were on a battered old love seat. The redhead sat on the arm of the sofa, her hand on Belle’s shoulder. Belle leaned against the edge of a desk. Graham must have trusted her enough not to run, since he sat in a chair turned backwards. Then again he had her keys and her car was a couple of miles away.

“I found the records on the internet. She’s my birth mom.” Henry bit his lower lip and stared down at his lap.

“Oh.” Henry’s real mom didn’t seem to have anything to say. She looked at her son and then up at Emma, her mouth open as if she wanted to ask a question.

“I didn’t know anything about it until he showed up at my door this evening.” Emma didn’t figure there was a point mentioning that it was her birthday. She’d managed to hide the cupcake before Henry had seen it.

“Henry, why did you think you needed to find your biological mom on your own?” The redhead was the one that spoke. Emma vaguely remembered the sheriff saying something about a friend waiting at the station. Erin or something like that.

Henry shrugged.

“Sweetheart, you know you can tell me anything. I’m not going to get mad, and although we do need to talk about what you did you’re not in trouble.” Belle’s hand rested in Henry’s hair, stroking him lightly until he looked up at her.

“I didn’t want to bother you. You’ve got enough stuff to worry about.” As Emma watched the mother and son it was as if no one else existed. They only spoke to each other. Any doubt she’d ever had about giving up her baby was gone. She knew that she’d done the right thing, and that Henry was where he’d always meant to be.

“Henry Connor Gold you are not a bother and you are not ‘stuff.’ You are my son and you always come first. Always.” Her voice was fierce, but she punctuated her speech with a hug that was easily accepted.

“Maybe it’s stupid,” Henry muttered.

“You skipped school and took a bus across state lines, sweetheart. I know you wouldn’t have done something like that unless you thought it was important.”

“I heard people talking about how I don’t have a dad, and maybe I’d have to go into foster care if you went into the hospital. And I thought maybe Emma could tell ‘em that she wanted me to be with you and they couldn’t do that. She wanted me to have my best chance, that’s what you always said, and they can’t make me go away. They can’t.” Emma recognized the look on Henry’s face, the determination and tamped down anger. She’d seen it often enough in the mirror.

“Oh sweetheart, no one’s going to take you away from me. You’ve been mine since you were three weeks old and nothing will ever change that. I’m just having some tests and Ariel’s going to stay with you. I would never, ever let anyone put you into foster care. It doesn’t matter if I gave birth to you or not, you are my son.” 

“But what if…”

“There are no ifs, Henry. Your dad would never have left a single loophole in your adoption. You know that.” She wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “I think it’s a good idea if we go home now. Will you go out to the car with Ariel? We’ll talk more at home.”

“Yeah.” Henry stood. “I’m sorry about making you drive all the way here and getting you arrested Emma.”

“Just a typical Friday night, kid. At least you didn’t try to take my wallet, or my car, which makes you a better date than some I’ve had.” It wasn’t the right thing at all to say to a kid, but then she’d never spent much time with the under eighteen crowd. Not since she’d bailed on her last foster home.

“Graham, could I…” Belle nodded in Emma’s direction.

“I’ll walk Ariel and Henry out.” Moments later they were in the room alone.

“I’ll be gone tonight, you don’t need to worry about me,” Emma promised before Belle could say anything. “Like you said, he’s your son. Someone like you, that’s what I wanted for him. I wouldn’t mess that up for the kid.”

“I’m not… that wasn’t what I was going to say. I wanted to tell you thank you. Thank you for bringing him home tonight, but more than that just thank you. What you gave me, the gift of a son, I can’t find the words to tell you what it means.”

“I just wanted him to have a good life.” She wasn’t sure if it would be easier or harder, knowing now what that life looked like.

“I know you probably want to get home, but if you’re still around tomorrow I’d like to invite you over. The least I could do is make you a meal. Henry’s pretty fond of my coq au vin, or if you’d rather have lunch we could make pizza,” Belle offered.

“I don’t want to trouble you.” It was probably a good idea to stay in town for the night, but that didn’t mean Belle owed her anything.

“Emma, I owe you the world, I can manage a meal. Just think about it, okay?” Belle leaned over the desk, scribbling on a piece of paper before handing her a phone number. “I need to go be with my son now.”

“Of course.” Emma let her get almost to the door before she cleared her throat. “Belle?”

“Yes?”

“What Henry said about the hospital…”

“It’s nothing, just some tests. Henry worries more than he should. His dad died when he was young enough that he doesn’t remember much. It’s just the two of us now, and Henry is a very loving kid. But it’s nothing.” The hairs on the back of Emma’s neck stood up, her personal BS detector, but she didn’t say anything.

“Okay. Uh, have a nice night.” There didn’t seem to be anything else to say, not until the sheriff came back into the room.

“So is there a place to stay in town and is it close enough to walk or do I need to call a cab? Unless you’re going to lock me up, of course.” Emma folded the piece of paper with Belle’s phone number and stuck it in her pocket. 

“I’ll give you a ride. Give me a call in the morning and I’ll take you out to get your car as well.” Graham tossed her the keys to her car. Emma caught them.

“You treat all your prisoners this way, sheriff?” she asked as she stood. 

“How do you think I get all the repeat business. Just look at those full cells.” Graham grinned as he nodded towards the two cells that weren’t just empty, but one had dust on the bars. “But really, thank you. If anything had happened to that boy I don’t know what it would do to Belle. She’s a friend, and her son is her world.”

“If you really want to think me you’ll take me to the hotel by way of a bar first. I wouldn’t mind a drink.” She was too keyed up to even think about going to sleep.

“I can manage that. I’ll even buy the first round.” Graham turned off the lights and locked the door behind them. “Welcome to Storybrooke, Emma.”


End file.
